A coaching client, a real estate agent, recently asked this question. It is a common problem, and here is the solution.
The Question
I think I am missing the boat on some clients because I forget about them. I lost contact with them and it is costing me thousands of dollars, maybe tens of thousands of dollars, every year. I really need to improve my average in this category. I need something to keep them in front of me. I need some sort of physical chart to keep them in my mind. I can probably make my own if I knew of three or four columns to use. How should I keep track of these clients?
The Solution
I teach my clients to use their CRM (Contact Relationship Management) software to keep track of these clients. This doesn’t work for some, in which case we pursue whatever system will work for them. People are different from each other and need different solutions. A good one is the whiteboard. The board itself it is quite easy to put together; let’s go over how to do it.
Five columns
The five columns you should put on your whiteboard are:
1. Urgency, label this column with A or B, so you are aware of the urgency level at all times. A, of course, is urgent while B is not. This will also prompt you to work on converting the B buyers to A’s.
2. The name of the buyer
3. The buyer’s price range
4. Location the buyer is interested in
5. Comments, anything specific they are looking for in a property
6. Optional information, such as phone numbers (before PDA’s agents would put contact information on their buyer whiteboard. Now, the number may not be necessary, because you have it on your phone).
When you, your assistant, or anyone on your team hears about a new listing or you are pursuing a new listing, you can glance at the board. Sell more, act more quickly for your buyers, and stop losing the leads that you already know are causing you to lose money.
